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Early Janism
with the religious narratives which cover the remaining seven chapters. For these narratives have for their central theme the doings of some Jaina-in most cases a monk, in some cases a householder; this as follows: Ch. I - The story of Meghakumāra, a prince who overcame his sense
of demoralization - born of discomforts usual in monastic life - when told that in a past birth he was an elephant which once kept standing with its one leg upraised for the fear of crushing the rabbit that had sought shelter at that very place at the very moment when the leg was upraised.
Ch, V.
The story of Sailaka, a king turned monk who when sick was put up at a royal palace but who was lured by the comforts available there, the situation being saved by Sailaka's own disciple Panthaka who reminded him of his duties as a monk.
Cb.VUI - The story of Mallı, the 19th Tirthankara, who generated the
feeling of world-renunciation in the mind of her six suitors by demonstrating to them as to how full of rubbish was the body of even a most beautiful woman.
Cb.XIII - The story of the pond-builder trader who after his death became
a frog in the pond built by bimself, a frog converted to Jainism and next born as a god after being crushed to death when it was on way to attend a sermon delivered by Mahāvīra.
Ch. XIV - The story of the royal minister Tetaliputra who was reluctant
to keep a promise earlier given by himself and so became a monk but who embraced monkhood when circumstances were so created that he was humiliated from all sides.
Ch, XVI - The story of Draupadi, her Svayamvara-marriage to the five Pandavas
her beipg kidnapped to a far-of land, her being released by Krsna--all this preceded by the stories of two past births of Draupadi where in one she acted as a malicious food-donor to a monk, in the other as a nun excessively interested in tending
her body. Ch. XIX - The story of two princely brothers Pundarika and Kandarika of
whom the former became king the latter a monk, but then the latter exhibited weakness in the manner of Sailaka ( of Ch. V) and so the two exchanged their roles.
This catalogue of subject matter brings to light the specific religious theme of the chapters in question. But the noteworthy thing is that this them is here always embedded in a more or less well-structured plot which touches upon so many facets of the human situation. As a matter of fact
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